Cooking for a cause

A Bondi-based charity uses cuisine to promote sympathy and understanding

BY PREETI KANNAN

Our Big Kitchen for an interview with director Rabbi Dovid Slavin, I am greeted by the smell of fresh baking, the sound of steely knives and a bustle of activity. The Jewish community kitchen in Bondi is gearing up for a regular day of cooking, as people from different backgrounds busily prepare delicacies they know best.

The idea was to go about (Mumbai) randomly handing out the biscuits, similar to how the terrorists had indiscriminately killed people and move on. People’s lives had been shattered and terrorism is for real. While the Indian authorities and hospitals were going about doing their business, we felt the need to convey the message of compassion in a tangible way. Volunteers came together at Our Big Kitchen and we focussed on reaching out to children,” recounts the Rabbi, who is also the Ambulance Chaplin of the Sydney South Sector.

Kerala as traders.

The religious head is urging Indians and Australians to come and cook together at the community kitchen to foster friendship and overcome any feelings of animosity.

“There have been a shocking number of attacks against Indian students. We would love for the community to come together and bake for the families of victims back home. It is hard to be immigrants or be away from home. Cooking together would be a great opportunity for Indians and Australians to know each other better,” he says.

Rabbi Slavin

“If you are either an aspiring chef or simply find the idea of spreading compassion and humanity through food appealing, then this is the place to be in,” says Rabbi Slavin. The kitchen, which is only a few years old, has opened its doors for people from different faiths, backgrounds and ethnicity to come together to prepare meals for themselves or for others through volunteering and cookins. The concept of Our Big Kitchen is based on the belief that it is possible to empower people through food.

That is exactly what the kitchen did in the aftermath of the Mumbai terrorist attacks of 2008, where nearly 200 people were killed and over 300 injured.

“When tragedy happens, you just don’t see the news

Besides the fact that nine Jews including a Rabbi and his wife were killed, the community kitchen wanted to do its bit in empathising with the victims. Children and volunteers at the community kitchen baked thousands of biscuits and flew them to Mumbai with the help of Qantas, after which, Jewish volunteers distributed biscuits to children.

“Many people had lost loved ones and we wanted to let children know that love and humanity were very much part of our lives. The idea was to go about randomly handing out the biscuits, similar to how the terrorists had indiscriminately killed people. This was our way to respond to the situation,” says Rabbi Slavin, who is also the co-founder of Gift of Life, Australia.

Rabbi Slavin, who spent a few weeks in 1990 in the Indian subcontinent, recollects his stay with fond memories. He says that he was known as the ‘Kala dadiwala’ or the black-bearded man by children, for whom he ran a camp in Matheran. He says that the group of 170 Indian children were one of the most wellbehaved, happiest and lively children he had met.

The Jews in India, he observes, were well-integrated and have never felt any exclusion or discrimination or anti-Semitism, unlike in other parts of the world. As a religious minority in India, they are believed to have arrived 2,500 years ago and settled down in Cochin,

Indian chefs, he adds, are welcome to share their recipes with the broader community or even cook for the Police or Ambulance authorities to express their appreciation and friendship.

The people behind Our Big Kitchen are hoping that more people from all walks of life and from diverse backgrounds utilise the kitchen for charity or commercial purposes. According to them, a ‘cook-in’ is when a group of enthusiastic volunteers come in regularly for a few hours to help chop, cook, pack and generally keep the whole programme ticking along. The ingredients are sourced by Our Big Kitchen. The food prepared is added to a ‘pool’ of food for distribution. Individuals or groups can then purchase this food for a nominal charge.

Pentagon for pressure on India to win Pakistani cooperation: WSJ

The Pentagon, the US defence department, is actively lobbying for “more pressure” on New Delhi to ease tensions between India and Pakistan to win Islamabad’s cooperation in Afghanistan, the Wall Street Journal has reported. It has also revealed that US President Barack Obama had issued a “secret directive” to intensify diplomacy towards that aim.

Asserting that without detente between the two rivals, US efforts to win Pakistani cooperation in Afghanistan would suffer, the directive in December “concluded that India must make resolving its tensions with Pakistan a priority for progress to be made on US goals in the region”, the daily said citing “people familiar with its contents”. A debate continues within the administration over how hard to push India, which has long resisted outside intervention in the conflict with its neighbour, it said. “The Pentagon, in particular, has sought more pressure on New Delhi,” the influential daily said citing US and Indian officials.

The journal cited current and former US officials as saying the discussion in Washington over how to approach India has intensified as “Pakistan ratchets up requests that the US intercede in a series of continuing disputes”.

The Obama administration has, so far, made few concrete demands of New Delhi, it said citing US and Indian officials.

According to US officials cited by the Journal, the only specific request has been to “discourage India from getting more involved in training the Afghan military, to ease Pakistani concerns about getting squeezed by India on two borders.”

The directive to top foreign-policy and national-security officials was summarised in a memo written by National Security Adviser James Jones at the end of the White House’s three-month review of Afghan war policy in December, the daily said.

According to US and Indian officials cited by the Journal, “the Pentagon has emerged in internal Obama administration debates as an active lobbyist for more pressure on India, with some officials already informally pressing Indian officials to take Pakistan’s concerns more seriously.”

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has been among the more vocal advocates of a greater Indian role, “encouraging New Delhi to be more ‘transparent’ about its activities along the countries’ shared border and to cooperate more with Pakistan”, the Journal said citing a US military official.

US military officials were circumspect about what specific moves they would like to see from New Delhi, it said. “But according to people who have discussed India policy with Pentagon officials, the ideas discussed in internal debates include reducing the number of Indian troops in Kashmir or pulling back forces along the border.”

The State Department has “resisted such moves to pressure India, according to current and former US officials, insisting they could backfire,” the Journal said.

No consensus on women’s bill, discussions to continue The central government said it would continue discussions on the women’s reservation bill, after its meeting with leaders of parties in the Lok Sabha failed to reach a consensus as most opponents stuck to their stated positions.

“Further discussion will continue,” the government said in a statement after the nearly two-and-half hour meeting on the contentious bill that provides for 33 percent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. The statement said leaders of various political parties expressed their views on the Constitution (108th Amendment Bill) 2008 at the meeting chaired by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is also leader of the house.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily and Defence Minister A.K. Antony also attended the meeting.

The bill, passed amid uproar in the Rajya Sabha in March, is opposed by the Samajwadi Party (SP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and a section of the Janata Dal-United (JD-U).

RJD leader Lalu Prasad, a strong opponent of the bill in its present form, said the legislation should provide reservation for Dalits, minorities and the backward castes.

Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said her party supported the bill but the interest of the minorities should be taken care of.

Ahead of the meeting, Lalu Prasad had said that he and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav would oppose the bill in its present form.

The government, which faces a bigger opposition to the bill in the Lok Sabha, wants to introduce it in the lower house in the second phase of the budget session that starts April 15.

Easter celebrated with prayers in northeast India

Easter, signifying the resurrection of Jesus Christ after his crucifiction, was celebrated Sunday in churches across northeast India with special prayer and worship programmes.

Over 5.3 million Christians live in Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Manipur while there are some Christians in the other northeastern states.

“The Salvation Army band party played “He’s risen” in Aizawl, Kohima and several other places in the northeast,” a Church head Zosangliana Colney told reporters.

Members of the Catholic Church broke their week-long traditional fast to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Christians celebrate the resurrection on Easter Day or Easter Sunday two days after Good Friday, the day of Christ’s crucifiction.

Churches in Mizoram, Nagaland and Meghalaya play a very active role in the life and culture of the northeast states.

“Christianity is the harbinger of modernity as well as women’s liberation in Mizoram. The Christian missionaries, therefore, are regarded as a symbol of modernisation, leading to gradual changes in the conservative attitude of men towards women,” Colney added.

Will not leave India till my name is cleared: Shoaib

Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik said he would not leave India till his name is cleared